


Full Circle

by seariderfalcon



Category: While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 08:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13609254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seariderfalcon/pseuds/seariderfalcon
Summary: When he first met Lucy, it stunned him to learn of her swift engagement to Peter. Three months. It seemed ludicrous.But then it took him less than a week toknow, to feel that irrevocable shift within his soul, and it wasn’t quite so unbelievable after all.





	Full Circle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ANGSWIN](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANGSWIN/gifts).



 

It took three weeks for the dust to settle, to process how that short span of time managed to tip his entire world on its axis.

 

Three weeks for him to realize he still couldn’t stop thinking about her.

 

Three weeks to come to terms with what he felt. It was no small infatuation. He couldn’t just walk away.

 

Three weeks to summon up the courage to tell his family that he wanted to marry her.

 

And then it took all of about three seconds for his entire family to breathe a collective sigh of relief and ask what the hell he was waiting for.

 

“You don’t think proposing this soon is a bad idea?” he asked.

 

His mother smiled. “She’s already family. You love her. And she’s in love with you, too.”

 

“You’re off to a good start there, son.”

 

“Someone once proposed to me after two days,” Elsie chimed in.

 

“I want my big sister back! Tell her she’s still my sister even if she says no...but she’s gonna say yes, Jack. I know she will.”

 

Three weeks he spent agonizing over what to do and how everyone might feel about it, but it turned out to be just that simple.

 

* * *

  
Jack hardly registered his surroundings while he drove his truck down the streets of Chicago, the landscape before him a blur as he followed his parent’s van in the midday traffic. He kept glancing over at the small velvet box in the passenger seat.

 

When he first met Lucy, it stunned him to learn of her swift engagement to Peter. Three months. It seemed ludicrous.

 

But then it took him less than a week to _know_ , to feel that irrevocable shift within his soul, and it wasn’t quite so unbelievable after all. Had his brother actually known her before his accident, he surely would’ve fallen for her immediately, too. Hell, Peter was charmed enough by her after he came out of his coma that he nearly did marry her anyway.

 

He still remembered her walking down the aisle of the hospital chapel and the way she held his gaze even as she approached altar, never looking at Peter. The leaden feeling in the pit of his stomach grew with step she took. All he could think of was his brother admitting he’d never been faithful to a woman.

 

But then she’d stopped the wedding before it even started and the only thing that mattered to him was that little spark of hope in her eyes when he objected as well.

 

And those six extraordinary words that weren’t for Peter after all.

 

_" I'm in love with your son.”_

 

He drew in a deep breath as he realized they were already at the station. He hoped she still felt the same way she did a month ago.

 

* * *

  
Jack could have kissed her forever, but the world interfered, of course. Giddy squeals and contented sighs of his family turned to grumbles.

 

“Hey, our son just proposed to our future daughter-in-law! Back off, pal.”

 

"Ox..."

 

Saul tried to herd their family away from the turnstile. He gave them a wink and mouthed his congratulations as the group edged out of the way, calling out their farewells.

 

“We love you, Lucy!” Mary called out over her shoulder. “You’re having dinner with us tonight, right?”

 

Lucy’s eyes lit up. She nodded and waved, too overwhelmed to speak in that moment. It didn’t seem possible, but seeing the delight and love she felt for them in return made him fall for her even more.

 

He watched as she made quick work of collecting tokens from the impatient commuters. As the last one cleared her booth, he turned to her.

 

“Should I go too?”

 

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t have to.”

 

“You sure? Is it really okay for me to stay here?”

 

Lucy gave him a shy but pleased smile and shrugged. She gestured for him to pull Celeste’s abandoned seat up next to her.

 

“Well...Jerry can’t exactly fire me. It’s my last day.”

 

“Really? You quit?”

 

“Yeah. I found a new job.”

 

It struck him then just how bizarre their circumstances truly were, a romance almost in reverse. He knew the basics of her life story and her dreams, yet here he stood, engaged for less than ten minutes and he didn’t know something as simple as her current employment status.

 

Hell, he hadn’t even held her hand yet.

 

“Wow, if I’d waited just one more day to come here…”

 

“You would’ve had to come to my apartment and fend off Joe Junior instead?” she laughed.

 

He released a mock sigh. “It would’ve been a tough, but I did bring reinforcements.”

 

She snorted.

 

“So...where? When? Tell me everything about it!”

 

“The registration desk at the hospital. I start on Monday. Wanda got me to apply and put in a good word for me. It pays better, a lot better, and probably won’t be as mind-numbly boring as scooping up tokens all day is.”

 

“Lucy, that’s wonderful,” he said, pulling her into a congratulatory hug.

 

“Maybe now I can save up to use my passport, even if it just gets me to Canada,” she said, grinning as they broke apart.

 

Jack looked down at the ring that still rested the knuckle of her index finger and knew he’d be able to give her the stamp she really wanted to see in that little booklet.

 

* * *

  
Every once in awhile, in the midst of all the bustle and activity that always came with being in their family’s presence, Lucy would suddenly fall quiet for a long moment, a wistful aura draping over her.

 

After he noticed it happening yet again for the third or fourth time in as many visits, he settled onto the arm of her chair and pulled her close.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You seemed worlds away there for a moment.”

 

“Sometimes it doesn’t seem quiet real,” she admitted as looked down at the bridal magazine in her lap. “I was pretty much by myself for so long that, after awhile, I just...stopped thinking about ever having any of this.”

 

Moving to Chicago to seek better treatment for her father’s cancer meant leaving almost everything Lucy knew before behind. During one of their many discussions since their engagement, she’d told him that though she tried to stay in contact with her college friends and her small but scattered extended family, she couldn't quite manage it. Instead, the many miles, the cost of long distances phone calls, and the necessity of transforming herself into her father’s sole caretaker all managed to throw her into near isolation within months. Being in strange city with few people whom she felt she could turn to anymore didn't help either. Then, after her dad passed away, she'd been too wrapped up in mourning her loss to reach out to anyone.

 

Jack gazed across the room where Midge, Elsie, and Mary poured over a variety of swatches and booklets, at least two separate conversations (if not more) between just the three of them. Going from such solitude to being surrounded by his rambunctious family on a regular basis, he knew, must be rather overwhelming at times.

 

"Are you really okay with all of this? I know we all sorta jumped headfirst right away into all this wedding planning, but we don't have to do this by October, you know." He took her hand in his. "No one's going to be upset if you need more time."

 

"No! No, Jack, I'm more than okay with this. And don't you even _dare_ suggest we change the date! If we didn’t already have so many arrangements and down payments made, I'd marry you tomorrow."

 

He grinned.

 

She snuggled into his side, her expression still somewhat pensive. “You know, these last few months have been the first time since my dad died that I’ve actually begun to feel like the person I was before I lost him. I really wish he could’ve met all of you.”

 

He considered for a moment the man who would've been his father-in-law, a man he only knew through the pictures she’d shown him and the nostalgic stories she told about him. A man who managed to raise his sweet fiancee almost on his own and instilled a sense of wonder and wanderlust into her kind, brave heart.

 

Holding her a little closer, he murmured, “Me too, sweetheart, me too.”

 

* * *

 

In the last couple months before their wedding, she started bringing over more of her things. Sometimes it didn’t seem real for him either, but her being there, talking about their day over takeout from Mr. Wong's, and the slow blending of their belongings together centered him.

 

Seeing her favorite little keepsakes and pictures on the mantle and finding a few of her father’s sweaters, the ones she tended to favor when she wanted comfort after a long day, he found comfort in them too. Even when she wasn’t physically present, she was there with him and he realized again the wonderful reality of it all.

 

In between orders for furniture and the days she volunteered to work overtime, he began building his own new pieces that soon would become theirs. Some he showed her and they figured out where to put them. Others, like the new bedroom suite he designed, he asked his parents to store away for the time being with the promise that they’d bring them over while they were away on their honeymoon, a surprise Lucy when they returned from Italy.

 

Slowly that humble little house became a home. _Their_ home.

* * *

 

Jack remembered the last time he saw her walk down the aisle of a chapel.

 

Last time, she’d been just as lovely, but she’d been anxious and uncertain, her attention on him or Saul or anyone else that was not her intended.

 

Last time, he’d wanted to bolt from the room and pretend it wasn’t happening. Maybe his heart and soul wouldn’t have felt like it was being crushed in a vice if he didn’t have to see the whole charade play out.

 

Last time, she looked she might just bolt out of there herself. In a way, he supposed, she had.

 

This time, though? This time, _he_ was her intended. He only wanted to dash down the aisle to sweep her into his arms and bring her to the altar, just to be able to say he was hers that much sooner.

 

And this time, even though this was only the rehearsal and it wouldn't be official until tomorrow afternoon, she beamed at him from the moment she appeared in the entryway with Saul and all the way down the aisle. Joy filled his chest at the rightness of it.

 

She wobbled a bit as she started up the steps and Jack reached out his hand to support her. As he guided her to the altar, he recalled another time time she'd lost her footing and he'd fallen with her. In every sense.

 

Laughing as she held onto him, she whispered, “I had it narrowed down to two pairs and Joe Junior thought I should go with these. Maybe I should give them to him instead and go with the smaller heels tomorrow.”

 

He chuckled at that and kissed her forehead.

 

Their priest raised a wry eyebrow at them then, his tone light as he said, “I haven’t gotten to that part yet.”

 

Today they'd come full circle. And tomorrow? Tomorrow, Jack would marry his best friend.


End file.
